Giants general manager Brian Sabean was second-guessed by some for
trading 2007 first-round pick Tim Alderson to the Pirates for second
baseman Freddy Sanchez in July. Is there any chance they’d deal their
other 2007 first-round pick to upgrade their offense? Probably not.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the Marlins have asked for
prospect pitcher Madison Bumgarner in return for slugger Dan Uggla. Sabean, however, said
he won’t give up any “prime assets” for a player close to free agency.

Bumgarner is 27-5 with a 1.65 ERA and an 0.97 WHIP in 49 games (48
starts) over his first two professional seasons. He was recently named the Giants No. 2
prospect by Baseball America. The 20-year-old southpaw made his major
league debut with the Giants in 2009, posting a 1.80 ERA in four
appearances (one start). There’s a chance he could be San
Francisco’s No. 5 starter in 2010, but he is expected to begin the season
with Triple-A Fresno.

Not good. With the winds generated by all those low pressure systems coming in off the Pacifc – low pressure being why Bay Area types are so laid back – Uggla’s strikeouts become useless for cooling off the empty seats the way they did at Joeprodolshark Stadium for so many years. On the other hand, his “swing hard in case you hit it” batting philosophy may go down well with the grunion fisherman in McCovey Cove, and it would surely be a tonic to all those Bay Area sportswriters who don’t have Barry Bonds to kick around anymore. Not only that: for those self-styled sports “journalists” who enjoyed letting you know how much their unnamed sources detested Bonds as a teammate or as a tipper, Uggla’s criticism of Hanley Ramirez for “not wanting to win badly enough” when Hanley was batting a mere 120 points higher than Dan the Man hold forth delightful prospects of having a new ambulatory sphincter to badmouth when the morning edition deadline finds them otherwise fallow.
Of course, the real deal that should be made for Dan the Man is with Oakland. Putting the guy in a stadium full of actually metabolising humans might be too much of a shock to his system after all those years at echo-prone Joeprodolshark Stadium.